Mechanical means for circulating air in enclosed spaces



Nov. 14, 1933.

E. .A. GORMAN MECHANICAL MEANS FOR CIRCULATING AIR IN ENCLOSED SPACES Filed Feb. 20, 1935 SSheets-Sheet 1 A 'I Y NT A EDRM'AN E. A. GORMAN Nqv. 14,' 1933.

MECHANICAL MEANS FOR CIRCULATING AIR IN ENCLOSED SPACES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 20, 1935 Nov 14, 1933-. E. GORMAN 1,935,590

MECHANICAL MEANS FOR CIRCULATING AIR IN ENCLOSED SPACES w. 1 INVENTEIR C I E-A-GE1RMAN Ilia-E;

Patented Nov. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES MECHANICAL MEAN S FOB CIRCULATING AIR IN ENCLOSED SPACES Edward A. Gorman, Alexandria, Va., dedicated to the free use of the Public Application February 20, 1933. Serial No. 657,502

4 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is made under the act approved March 3, 1883, as amended by act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described may be manufactured and used by or for the Govern- 5 ment for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

I hereby dedicate the invention herein described to the free use of the public, to take effect upon the granting of a'patent to me.

My invention relates to vehicles having closed bodies, particularly, refrigerator cars, and other types of enclosures, in which air is continuously and mechanically circulated through the ice bunkers and storage compartment, while the pressure of the wind outside of the body of the vehicle or enclosure is sufficient to rotate the apparatus,

hereinafter more particularly described, whether.

the vehicle is stationary or in transit.

The object of my invention is to generally improve and simplify the construction of refrigerator cars or other enclosures; to increase efiiciency and economy of refrigeration, ventilation or heater service; to increase the loading or storage capacity and further maintain a more uniform temperature than is ordinarily obtained in such r'efrigerator cars or other types of enclosures, but can be maintained by this means of mechanically circulating air through the bunkers and storage compartment of these said vehicles, or enclosures, while the pressure of the wind outside the body of the vehicle or. enclosure is suffioient to rotate theapparatus, whether the vehicle or enclosure is stationary'or in transit.

My invention is shown, by way of illustration, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. I is a central, vertical, longitudinal section of a refrigerator car under refrigerator service.

Fig. II is a central, vertical, longitudinal section of a refrigerator car under heater service.

Fig. III is a cross-section showing the application of the rotor to the car or enclosure, and the position in relation to the ducts.

Fig. IV is a cross-section showing the location of the ducts above the ceiling.

Fig. V shows the basic design of the reversible blades of the fan.

Fig. VI shows the invertible rotorassembly.

Fig. VII is a side view of invertible rotor arrangement.

larly. Figures I, II, and III, 1 indicates in general Fig. VIII is a cross-section showing arrange-- refrigerator car; 2 the bottom or floor section; 3 and 4 the sides and ends respectively; and 5 the top or roof section. Disposed at each end of the car are ice bunkers 6, and intermediate the bunkers is a storage compartment, generally indicated at 7, in which fruit, or other perishable commodity to be shipped is packed or stored, as will hereinafter be described.

The main purpose of my invention is to insure a uniform temperature in the storage compartment by maintaining the air in continuous circulation through the storage compartment and ice bunkers; this being accomplished by slightly altering the construction of the superstructure of the roof of the car, or other enclosure, directly 7% above and adjacent to the inside ceiling, wherein ducts would be installed longitudinally, and by providing a means whereby the air may be mechanically and continuously circulated.

The alteration in the constructionof the su- 7 perstructure of the roof directly above and adjacent to the inside ceiling, and the mechanism for circulating the air will now be described in detail:

By again referring to Figures I, II, III and IV, it will be noted that the roof of the car or other enclosure 5 has been provided with covers and hatch openings 8 through which the bunkers 6 may be filled. The bottom of the space in the bunker occupied by the ice is formed by grate bars 9 to support the ice and allow air to circulate thereunder; directly under these grate bars 9 in bunker 6 are found drain pans 10 to receive and discharge the drippings. When the weather conditions require temperature within the car to be maintained by the application of heat to be supplied by heaters it is the common practice-to place these heaters on the grate bars 9, and in some cases the grate bars 9 are removed and the heater placed on drip pan 10. Bulkhead 11 is interposed between each ice bunker 6 and storage compartment 7 and'screens 12 and 13 are offset from the walls of the bunker to form free air space when the bunkers are filled with ice (as in Fig. I) Ducts 14 and 15 open into and are concluded at ports indicated in the bunker as 16 and 16a and under heater service these ports at 16 and 16a are the suction end of ducts 14 and 15 made so by the action of my device 17 for mechanically circulating the air as shown in Figure II. The action of fans 18 and 18a discharges the air down between the opening found at 19 and under the raised floor 20 where it is shoved back toward bunker 6 and loses some of its heat, and upon entering bunker. 6 and coming in contact with heater 21 is again heated and rises upward to the top of bunker 6 where a portion of the heated air escapes through top bulkhead opening 22 and a portion is drawn into ports 16 and 16a and through ducts 14 and 15, which cycle is continuous while fans 18 and 1811 are in motion and is natural in thermosiphonic action under ordinary heater service conditions butvery slow. Tests under natural conditions have shown the speed of the air to vary from zero to 60 feet per minute. The use of fans 18 and 18a increases the speed of the air in this cycle from 60 fee per minute up to 240 feet per minute, and more, varying according to the rotation of fans 18 and 18a, as caused by the force of the wind outside the car body or other enclosure on wind motors 17 on the outside of the car.

It has been observed in tests in severe cold temperature on cars loaded with perishable food products, and in which car heaters have to be placed, that the temperature existing varied greatly from the top to the bottom of loading space 7, and that in many instances the temperatures near the lower part of the load were below the freezing point of the commodity, and that the temperature at the upper portion of the load were much higher than desirable for safe storage or transportation of the product and that the portion of the load intermediate between these two described points would have the best conditions for safe storage and transportation, thereby reducing the efiiciency of the vehicle as a protective carrier much less than would be possible if the temperature within the car was covered by a much narrower range between maximum and minimum temperatures, which is made possible by mechanical circulation of air within the car by means of my apparatus as hereinbefore described.

Under refrigeration, when the bunkers are filled with ice, the reverse thermosiphonic cycle action takes place within the car loading space as is natural under heater service, that is, air from which heat has been extracted and whose density has increased with relation to the other air in the car under conditions natural in refrigeration is forced out of the bunkers at the bottom opening23 by the weight of the chilled air above it forcing it out the port of least resistance and under the false floor 20 through channel 24 as formed by the natural floor 2 and raised false floor 20 and is warmed by contact with the ,load

and rises to the-top of loading space 7, and is drawn toward the top bunker opening 22 as the warm air at that location comes in contact with the ice in the bunker and drops down through the ice and along space 25 to the bottom of the bunker below the ice grates and out through the heretofore described.

The application of my mechanical air circulating device, 17, 18 and 18a, to-the car or other enclosure, when under refrigeration, is so adbottom bunker opening2 3, continuing the cycle as justed that its action draws air upward and to-- 26 of the car.

toward bottom bunker opening 23 by the weight of the chilled air above it, and the pressure caused by the action of the air currents caused by fans 18 and 18a. Such action of air currents is natural under refrigeration, and the action of the fans speeds up this natural air flow, causing a quicker cooling of the lading than would be possible under natural thermosiphonic action, and

maintenance of a more uniform temperature range between minimum and maximum temperatures.

Referring to Fig. III, there is shown a crosssection of a refrigerator car of standard construction with false floors 20, and the addition of my air circulating device fans 17, 18 and 18a, driven by rotors 1'7 through ducts 14 and 15 and the position of the ducts in relation to inside ceiling The ducts 14 and 15 for directing and conducting the air to and from the bunkers to the loading space in the cars may be constructedby cutting sections from cross beams27 and placinglongitudinally above .the inside ceiling 26 of the car, ducts 14 and 15 of sheet metal, or some other suitable material, and shaped to fit the cuts made in cross beams 27 of the car for the passage of said ducts.

In Fig. IV there is shown the typical construction of insulated bodies for vehicles such as refrigerator cars, and it is the practice in some cases to place the layers of roof insulating material 28 directly under, and adjacent top roof covering 29. Another practice, is to place the roof insulating material directly above and next to inside ceiling 26. When the former method is used, the installation of ducts l4 and 15, as described above, would not require disturbing the insulation 28 whereas, when in the latter method, the insulating material would of necessity be disturbed, but the insulation 28 would merely have to be raised at the point where the ducts 14 and 15 are installed and allowed to rest on the top most part of the duct itself. Thus, insulating material 28 no matter in which of the two ways it is applied, would be as efiective after the installation of the ducts as it was before,

and the thermal efiiciency of the body of the car,

is connected to rotor 17 located outside of the body of the car or enclosure) is connected by means of pin 32, the blades 33 of fan 18 are set in hub 30, similar to spokes on an ordinary wheel, and butt end 34, set in hub 30, is retained in that position by collar 35 set in recess 36. A part of collar 35 consists of gear teeth 37 thatengage gear teeth 38, a part of movable section 39 of hub 30 held in place by bolt 40 which is attached to hub 30 on its center. Thumb holds 41 on mov- Y able section 39 of hub 30 can be moved in a circular motion, in either direction A or B, which action causes movement of butt end 34 of blade 33 by the engaging action of gear teeth 37 on butt end 34 and gear teeth 38 on movable section 39 of hub 30, thereby altering the position of blade 33, as desired.

Referring to Fig. VII there is shown a rotor 17 mounted on shaft 42 and the attachments that make it detachable and invertible. Removable pin 43 with spring wedge attachment 44 fits in slot 45 of rotor hub 46 and holds rotor 17 in place. When it is desirable to reverse the rotation of the apparatus, without entering the car, or enclosure, rotor 1'? can be removed from shaft 42 place.

In Fig. VIII there is shown a cross-section of rotor design recommended wherein but .two

curved vanes 49 and 49a are attached to end plate 50 and an air passage 51 left between the two separate vanes 49 and 49a.

Having thus fully described my claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having a storage compartment therein, a pair of bunkers disposed one at each end of the compartment, a floor in the storage compartment having an air duct in communication with the lower ends of the bunkers and with the storage chamber, said bunkers also having air inlets formed in their upper ends and air duct ports in the ceiling of said bunkers, wind driven fans situate at the ceiling of the car; unobstructed continuous ducts located between the roof and ceiling of the car and extended longitudinally along each side of the center line of said car, said ducts connecting said fans with bunker appertures located in the ceiling of the bunkers; duct outlets located above the fan blades so as to permit air drawn through the ducts from the bunkers to the fan blades to discharge vertically through the lading to the air duct in the floor and back to the bunkers.

2. In a refrigerator car having a storage compartment therein, a pair of ice bunkers disposed one at each end of the compartment, a floor in the storage compartment having an air duct incommunication; with the lower ends of the bunkers and with the storage chamber, said bunkers also having air inlets formed in their upper ends and air duct ports in the ceiling of said bunkers, wind driven fans situate at the ceilingof the car; unobstructed continuous ducts located between the roof and ceiling of the car and extended longitudinally along each side of the center line of said car, said ducts connecting said fans with bunker apertures located in the ceiling of the bunkers; duct apertures located above the fan invention, I

' blades to permit air drawn by the fan blades tromthe storage compartment to the duct in communication with the bunkers down through the ice in the bunkers and out through the bottom I bunker openings through the air duct in the floor and thence up through the lading.

3. In a refrigeratorcar having a storage compartment therein, a pair of ice bunkers disposed one at each end of the compartment, a floor in the storage compartment having an air duct in communication with the lower ends of the bunkers and with the storage chamber, said bunkers also having apertures formed in their upper ends; unobstructed air duct ports connected with the ceiling ,of said bunkers; propeller fans situate at the ceiling of the storage compartment; unobstructed continuous ducts located between the root and ceiling of the car and extending longitudinally along each side of the center line 01' 4. In a refrigerator car having a storage com-, .partmenttherein, a pair of bunkers disposed one .ioo

at eachend of the compartment, heating means j withinsaid bunkers, a floor in the storage compartment having an air duct in communication with the lower ends of the buhlrers and with the storage chamber, said bunkers also having apertures formed in their upper ends, unobstructed air duct ports connected with the ceiling of said bunkers; propeller fans situate at the ceiling or the storage compartment; unobstructed cqntinuous ducts located between the root and ceiling of the car and extending longitudinally along each side of the center line of said car, said ducts connecting said fans with said duct ports in the ceiling of said bunkers; duct outlets located above the fan blades so as to permit warm air drawn through the ducts from the said heating means within the said bunkers to the fan blades to dis-- charge vertically through the lading to the air duct in the floor and thence back to the said: bunkers.

' EDWARD A. GORMAN. 

